Monday, April 12, 2010

Life change hurts. But if you want change, deal with the pain. Period, the end.

It's no secret that I love to workout and strive for the great new exercises to try. I've found an awesome gym near my house that offers amazing cross training by a fitness coach who not only loves what he does, but loves his clients. He not only cares about changing what you look like, but he cares about how you feel.

At 5:30am a small group of women arrive at NextLevelFitness before the sun comes up because we want to change. We are committed to change. We are paying for a change. But there's a woman who habitually complains about every circuit we do.

A few weeks ago the workout was particularly challenging. As we switched from one station to the next, we were all tired. Kathie was so tired she crawled to the next station, I leaned over the ab bench trying to catch my breath, and the other women adjusted to their new station. The Complainer? Well, she refused to do the next station: push ups.

What I said: [inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale]

What I said in my head: Look honey, we all are hurting. We have a choice as to whether or not we want to change. If you don't like it, don't come. So just shut up and get do the push ups!

(Not only am I unsympathetic at 5:30am, I'm have a low tolerance for complainers.)

Hebrews 12:11 says, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." I couldn't help but parallel her complaints with our own complaints in spiritual living. We ask God to change us, mold us, break us so we can be used, but when he does, we complain and fight back.

If we simply trust him and do what is needed to change our lives, Hebrews tells us it will produce a harvest of righteousness.

Today I saw the fruit. At the end of our arduous workout, Joe decides to kill us (aka give us one more circuit). Oh yeah, it had push ups. I was waiting for a comment from The Complainer, but she got on her hands and began doing push ups. Like REAL push ups. I watched her out of the corner of my eye and was so proud of her! All the workouts had paid off and she realized the instruction for our trainer was right and beneficial.

How can you daily submit to change? Are you The Complianer or are you a trainer? Whatever station you are at, keep at it! Whether your instruction comes from life coach, pastor, mentor, or daily biblical instruction, listen. I promise you--the results are worth it!

32 comments:

so true...it hits me hard in the stomach today....all I want to to do is be in the will of God....for God to use me, change me, give me my purpose....but when things get hard, the whining starts...thank God today is a new day and I can start fresh with a no grumbling or complaining policy in effect(for myself:))

Thanks for the reminder and encouragement. Your post so hit straight to the heart. I'm going thru a breaking/molding, pruning/growing stage right now... and I'm a complainer! But now I'll just think of you saying, "Look honey, we all are hurting. We have a choice as to whether or not we want to change. If you don't like it, don't come. So just shut up and get do the push ups." ;)

Oh man. I was right there getting ready to complain about the Complainer (why is she there getting her butt kicked if all she's going to do is complain about it??) until you turned the table and made me look at my trials that God has for me. Ugh. Seems I needed a good kick in the rear today since He's working and I'm not fully letting Him do His thing.

awww this one hits home for me! I LOVE IT!I came to a point about 6 months ago when I realized I was so willing (and excited!) to put the discipline, pain and hard work into my workouts, but was afraid to have the same approach to my marriage and my relationship with God... Its amazing how God can change your heart when the discipline is applied fearlessly to what He deems 1st priority!Thanks Bianca :)

Talk about convicting!! I have recently hit the point of sheer exhaustion (spiritually, mentally, physically), and have noticed I HAVE started to complain to the Lord. This post totally changes my perspective. A great reminder to keep at this current station trusting that God is faithful and His plan/purpose is so much better than mine...even when it hurts!

Ahh!!! I LOVE it!! Great post Bianca!!! I'm different things in different areas of my life ... LOL!!Dating - COMPLETE COMPLAINER!!! Why God? Why me? Why are my eggs forced to rot and my aching heart not put out of its misery with a nice wonderful husband?? Haha!! I'm so dramatic!!

I know God wants to be my groom and He is the lover of my heart and soul... I'm starting to learn this! I'm currently reading a book by Michelle McKinney Hammond called "What to Do Until Love Finds You". It has truly been a blessing! My main focus right now is to GET A LIFE so my mind is not idle and I'm not so focused on what I don't have. Like you said, if I want to change, I have to deal with the pain as I walk through all of this... with GOD!! I've tried for so long to do it on my own and it's time to change!!

The past several months I've been feeling God's hand trying desperately to mold me & change me. I've been struggling daily with keeping my chin up and my mental state strong. It's been VERY HARD on me, my husband, my kids and family. Life's HARD right now and this week I've been at a crossroads. I finally convinced my husband to compromise and do things MY way. At church yesterday, God helped me to remember HE was the one that placed us here and it's HIS will that we stay in the place. Thank you for your message today. I'm grateful for the pain I'm enduring now as it could only mean that God is helping me to become the person he made me to be! I'm back on track with God's plan for me and my family - and ready to live the next 8 months with a better attitude!

(Just for clarification, I exercise through outdoor "stuff", snowshoeing, kayaking..ya know.. There's something motivating about paddling/walking somewhere and knowing that the only way you're going to stay alive is by moving your butt back towards where you started)

Your words are what I've been hearing all last week. Last week was hard for me. There are changes taking place and I have been so reluctant to take that little last step that I so need to take. Change is hard. Please pray I finally let go and allow God to give me something better instead of pretending I have something I really don't. No fruit without some pruning.. and it's time for me to grow.

Good grief woman, 5:30 in the morning?! You must be REALLY committed to change =)

The parallel really works though. And I'll cop to the fact that I'm the trainer with my friends' issues (I'm such a cheerleader for them, lol) but I'm totally a complainer with my own life. I guess that makes me a bit of hypocrite, but sometimes it's just so much easier to see the positive in others' situations than in my own.

Whoa, I need to clarify that I'm not always Chipper Cherry in the morning or in life. I speak clearly on this issue because many times I've complained about:singlenessmoneyweightlifejobsinglenessmoneyweightlife

I am praying for myself AND for you all. I love the honesty and believe God is always good. :)

This was really great, thank you so much. You know what is hilarious is I do a boot camp workout (going on my 2nd 4-week session!) and so I quite literally know and understand what you are talking about. However, our trainer is a little more militant so my only complaint is I wish he or someone would encourage us when we're sweaty and can't breath anymore! Haha! But I'm fighting to realize it's good for me and to lay the personal stuff stuff aside, but I am SUCH a personal being >.< Any advice?

Thank you for this awesome blog. There is something about overcoming something physically deemed "impossible". Once you become Physically Stronger by overcoming the workout,(ie:push-up, pull-up, sit-up, & sprint)...something inside you becomes Mentally Stronger. You will develop a habit of "sucking it up" & taking on ANY challenge presented to you. I have done Half Marathons, Grueling Workouts in the gym & many other butt kicking workouts that challenged my strength & determination to finish, but none of those events were tougher than what happened to me a month ago with my father getting into a horrific trucking accident. I am not saying that exercise helped take away all my pain, but I had to congure up A LOT of strength!!! Thank you Lord for making my dad better & thank you Bianca for being there for me friend. See you in Bootcamp!

I don't know if I'm so much as a complainer, or I just don't have faith in myself. I fear that I can't do what I want to do. In the realm of working out, I am now working on running and having faith that in time I can improve. A more positive outlook has helped me so much! I know that I can't just wake up one morning and be a marathon runner, but do it in my time...little by little! It is amazing how our thoughts come before our actions...not just when we workout but in life too!! This was encouraging :) Thanks Bianca!

good blog entry and I was a little bit shocked as I realize, how often I am a complainer...I would be more often the trainer...but sometimes it is really really difficult...I hope God changes me a soon as possible and uses me...I am waiting my whole life and I will not complain...Word...

I'm the spectator who watches everyone else do the hard work but gets jealous when I don't see the changes and results that they do. Thank you for the reminder to put down my excuses and get off my butt and get some discipline!!!

We were out (Ken and I) running yesterday. Six miles, Uphill, Into Strong Wind. And for the first time ever I had a strong mind about it. I believe I said to him "a lot of people have done a lot harder things for a lot longer than this." He rolled his eyes at me. But there is a mind shift that comes with consistent and brutal physical activities. And the mind shift carries over into the rest of our lives, if we allow it.

You did a masterful job drawing the parallel of "asking" our "trainer" to break, mold and change us and allowing the change and not complaining in it.

Bianca, this is a very good post. It is interesting that so many of us think that life really should be easy and that the answer to my problems should be easy.

Lately, I have been paying attention to how often I hear the phrase, "But that's hard!" Sort of like, if that is hard then I need to find another route.

Very often, I am in conversations where someone will share a problem or concern with me. They will sometimes ask me what they might do about this issue. So often after making a suggestion, the response is, "But that's hard!"

Maybe, just maybe, we often miss what is good and rich about life because we avoid anything that appears hard.

We may even miss following Jesus because he chose pain and difficulty instead of avoiding it.

B! can i call you that?!? i feel like your my friend from listening to your heart here and as a friends it seems like a fitting and appropriate nickname.

this is probably THE BEST connection and imagery ever for this faith concept. wow.awesome!!!thank you for showing again that faith requires work, requires practice, requires sweat to produce love, deep soul-loving Jesus love, in our hearts.